A parliamentary election can strengthen a government’s authority without necessarily demonstrating the breadth of its popular support. Russia’s latest electoral exercise illustrates this distinction, raising questions not merely about the composition of its legislature but about the political consequences of allowing the Kremlin to equate electoral victory with national consent. United Russia’s anticipated retention of its constitutional majority in the State Duma comes amid a prolonged war in Ukraine, mounting economic pressures and attacks on Russian infrastructure.

These circumstances might ordinarily create political opportunities for opposition parties to question the government’s strategic choices. Yet the absence of meaningful electoral competition has sharply restricted the possibility of converting public discontent into parliamentary influence. The exclusion of Yabloko, the only anti-war party permitted to enter the electoral contest before its removal from the party list, exposes the institutional limitations of Russian political pluralism. Although some of its candidates continued to contest individual constituencies, the party’s marginalisation substantially narrowed the space for an organised challenge to the Kremlin’s war policy. A legislature dominated by parties that support the........

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